Media Coverage
The work done by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine faculty members (and even some students) is regularly highlighted in newspapers, online media outlets and more. Below you’ll find links to articles and videos of Feinberg in the news.
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CBS News
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Irregular sleep may be harmful to your heart, study finds
When you don’t get enough good sleep, the short-term consequences are noticeable — maybe you’re distracted at work or snappy with loved ones. But in the background, irregular and poor-quality sleeping patterns could increase your risk for developing cardiovascular disease, according to a study published this week in the Journal of the American Heart Association. “People with less sleep or irregular patterns do tend to have less healthy patterns in other lifestyles (like diet and physical activity),” Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said. “Sleep is critical for the heart to be able to rest, as that is when heart rate slows and blood pressure normally dips,” he added. “Without that regular rest, the heart and vascular system are stressed over time.”
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The Washington Post
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Depression risk rises after a stroke. What that means for John Fetterman.
Sen. John Fetterman’s hospitalization for depression is most likely to be short and successful, more a reset during a difficult period than a life-altering, career-threatening event, according to mental health authorities, other stroke survivors, academic research and people on Capitol Hill. “The hospitalization doesn’t necessarily say anything about his future status,” said Will Cronenwett, MD, chief of general psychiatry and assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Hospitalization is often the thing to do to recover quickly. A hospitalization, rather than ending anyone’s career, enables them to regain lost function.”
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WebMD
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How to Keep a Bladder Diary
Overactive bladder (OAB) is an umbrella term for several urinary symptoms. The most common symptom is a sudden urge to urinate that you can’t control. Other symptoms include leaking urine, frequent urination and waking up at night to urinate. OAB is a common condition, affecting as many as 40% of women and 30% of men in the United States. It can be managed with lifestyle changes, prescription medications, botulinum toxin (Botox) treatments, nerve stimulation, and, in severe cases, surgery. “If you think something might be going on, keeping a bladder diary could be really helpful just to see how often you’re really going to the bathroom and when you leak urine,” says Margaret Mueller, MD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology. That said, Mueller notes that women in particular tend to think that they urinate too frequently because “their bladder is interfering with their being able to do 100 million things in a day.” In reality, she says they’re often within the range of normal. A bladder diary can show this and give you reassurance.
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Fox News
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As emergency rooms see more of America’s mentally ill kids, new study pinpoints issues
A growing number of desperate parents are bringing their mentally ill kids to emergency rooms, even as most hospitals’ ERs are not equipped to help beyond addressing immediate safety concerns. The lead author of the study, Dr. Jennifer Hoffmann, assistant professor of pediatrics in emergency medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and attending emergency physician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. “Only so much can be accomplished during a single ER visit.” She added, “the main purpose is to determine the level of mental health care that a child needs, whether it’s an inpatient psychiatric admission or outpatient services, and to connect the child with ongoing care.” Low follow-up rates after an ER visit are an indicator of a broken mental health system for children, Hoffmann believes. The COVID pandemic triggered a widely recognized mental health crisis.
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New York Times
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Bruce Willis Has Frontotemporal Dementia, His Family Announces
The family of Bruce Willis announced that the actor has frontotemporal dementia, known as FTD, a form of dementia that occurs most commonly when nerve cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain decrease in number. Those with the behavioral variant of FTD may act out of character, said Dr. Ian Grant, an assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Families will say that patients “seem like they’ve lost a bit of their filter,” he said. Someone who is typically quiet and reserved may start spewing profanities, for example, or loudly comment on a stranger’s appearance. Dr. Grant described the poor judgment and erratic behavior that can come with personality changes from FTD, such as drinking an entire bottle of maple syrup. “They may be craving instant gratification, without any real ability to put a check on that,” he said.
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New York Times
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How a Consistent Sleep Schedule Might Protect Your Heart
There are a few tried and true pieces of advice that sleep doctors always give for battling insomnia: Watch those alcoholic drinks at dinner, cut the afternoon coffee, stop scrolling before bed. And please, they beg: Keep your sleep schedule consistent. Flip-flopping between wake-up times wreaks havoc on our internal body clocks. Sleep experts refer to this as “social jet lag,” said Dr. Sabra Abbott, a sleep medicine specialist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Similar to changing time zones, heading to bed at vastly different types from day to night may throw off your circadian rhythm. Light helps regulate our circadian rhythm, Dr. Abbott said, signaling to our bodies that it’s time to wake up. Take (even a brief) working walk, if the weather allows, to expose yourself to sunlight around the same time each day, she recommended.
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NPR
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New childhood obesity guidance raises worries over the risk of eating disorders
Eating disorder treatment specialists are sounding the alarm over new guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics advising doctors to treat obesity earlier and more aggressively, which they say could lead to eating disorders. They say it focuses on weight loss and BMI rather than health, minimizes the risk of disordered eating and could perpetuate deep-rooted, damaging stigmas. Eating disorders among children and adolescents rose dramatically during the pandemic, and the risk of developing an eating disorder is higher among patients who’ve been diagnosed as overweight or obese and patients who’ve engaged in dieting. But for children with severe obesity, bariatric surgery is reliably effective and can reverse the condition’s life-threatening effects: diabetes, hypertension and liver disease, obesity specialists say. “The effective treatments for severe obesity in adolescents are really just one: That is bariatric surgery,” Dr. Thomas Inge, chief of pediatric surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
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NBC 5 Chicago
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Data-tracking necklace helps smokers kick habit
Wearable tech is heating up and now scientists hope to empower smokers with personalized data and a necklace designed to kick a daily habit. Inside the habits lab at Northwestern Medicine, scientists mimic smoking while pondering a burning question: What causes someone to successfully quit smoking? The answer, they believe, is data-driven by tracking real-life actions, not self-reported usage. Nabil Alshurafa, PhD, is an associate professor of behavioral medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “We can tell how long the person placed the cigarette at the mouth,” Alshurafa said. “Things like our body, the cigarette, the lighter – all these things emit heat.” The Smokemon device is worn around the neck and sensors inside the device measure the thermal activity to determine the number of puffs, their duration and the time between each drag on the cigarettes. “All these things could potentially allow us to characterize that smoking behavior in a lot more fine detail,” Alshurafa said. That could mean an even deeper understanding of tobacco exposure and disease. At the same time, the mechanics allow users to navigate their smoking topography – in other words, what causes them to light up, particularly those who relapse.
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NBC 5 Chicago
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The 1 Diet Change a Doctor Says Pregnant Women Should Know About to Avoid Impacts on Baby
A woman’s diet during pregnancy can have an impact on not only her health, but her baby’s future health. “What a mother, a pregnant woman, eats during her pregnancy can very much influence her offspring, her child,” said Dr. Linda Van Horn, professor emeritus of preventive medicine and nutrition at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. After studying the diets of pregnant women, Dr. Van Horn advocates for a plant-based diet during pregnancy that continues into early childhood and beyond to help protect your heart. “Let’s remember hypertension is the single biggest contributor to the global burden of disease,” Van Horn said. “High blood pressure, which often goes undetected and results in a much higher risk for stroke, is a problem that has nutritionally-related roots as well.” Further, “The dietary fiber, the vitamins, the minerals, the phytochemicals that are contributed by our plant-based diet, can’t be achieved anywhere else,” Van Horn added.
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Reuters
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U.S. FDA staff flag no new safety concerns for OTC opioid overdose drug
Some experts were optimistic that a favorable vote from the committee could make an impact on the overdose crisis. “It’s not sufficient, but it is a piece of the puzzle we need to put in place,” said Maryann Mason, Associate Professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
